


[Character profile] Ilias Crosten

by Halcyon_Storm



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Dungeons & Dragons - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-20
Updated: 2020-01-20
Packaged: 2021-02-19 04:30:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22338490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Halcyon_Storm/pseuds/Halcyon_Storm
Summary: Summary, general information and backstory for Ilias Crosten, a character I have created.(might be used for a D&D setting in the future)





	[Character profile] Ilias Crosten

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General information  
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Full name: Ilias Crosten  
Birthname: Ilias Siridon  
Race: Human  
Gender: Male  
Birthday: 22 February  
Age: 19  
Birth place: City of Darcidon  
Dominant hand: Ambidextrous  
Height: 173 cm  
Skin colour: White (permanent suntan)  
Extra anatomy: One-armed (right arm missing entirely)  
Hair colour: Black  
Hair length: Medium-long (just above the neck)  
Hair style: Wilding, unstyled  
Eye colour: Dark blue  
Facial hair: None  
Physical build: Strong, yet not excessively muscular  
Fitness: Extremely fit and agile  
Weapon: Double-pointed spear

Outfit:  
\- Leather wrist glove on left hand  
\- Dark purple sleeveless shirt  
\- Thin reddish scarf/cape around neck that drapes down over the right shoulder, hiding where his right arm would be  
\- Tattoo of a winged serpent wrapped around the lower left arm  
\- Footwear entirely made of brown bandages going up to the ankles

\---  
Backstory  
\---

The creation of Darcidon

The city of Darcidon, one of the larger settlements in the region, has always been ruled over by two families: the Darcrows and the Siridons. The origin story of the city tells of two heroes, named Calem Darcrow and Aria Siridon. The two met on their respective journeys and quickly fell in love. Together, they decided to settle down in a place that would grow to become the city of Darcidon, even the name of the city being a combination of their own last names. They ruled together peacefully for many years, although they would disagree on things at times. In such a case, they would always turn to the citizens and let them decide. Over time, the people would grow to align themselves with either side consistently, naturally creating a two-party political system. Calem and Aria decided that in order to maintain this system of government in the city, it was important that there would always be one leader from each family in charge at all times. So, as much as they loved each other, they could not have a child together, as that would mean they could be the ruler of both sides. Ever since that time, the tradition has held up, and the citizens of Darcidon, though divided between the two alignments, lived amicably together for centuries.

The Darcrow takeover

This method of living together worked perfectly up until a few years ago. Arthur Darcrow, the most recent leader of the Darcrow family, has been well-known for his aggressive attitude and leadership style. He has repeatedly stated he does not fear war with others, and believes that overpowering someone with force is the most effective way to achieve results. This stands in sharp contrast with the Siridon’s leader, Roanne Siridon, who was in every sense of the word a true pacifist. She wished to resolve all potential conflicts in a peaceful and sophisticated manner, no matter how bad the situation got. Over the few years they were in power, the Darcrow supporters grew more and more aggressively passionate for their family. For the first time since the creation of the city, attacks happened inside the city walls between Darcrow loyalists attacking the Siridon supporters. Roanne was appalled by how far they had strayed from their ancestor’s initial ideals, but Arthur seemed to only enjoy these outbursts of passion. The riots became more frequent and more violent, until on February 24, the events came to a climax when Arthur Darcrow killed Roanne Siridon, and took all power for himself. Many Siridon followers were killed, and the ones who weren’t all escape the city out of fear of finding a similar fate.

Ilias Siridon; the secret child

Fyrus Siridon, Roanne’s wife, had anticipated that something like this might happen. Before Arthur had overtaken his father’s position as the Darcrow leader, Fyrus had already noticed his violent nature, and foresaw trouble might arise. For that reason, he told his wife that they should have a child as soon as possible, but keep their existence hidden from the public eye. This way, even if Arthur would make a move on the Siridon family, they would still have an offspring who could come back later as an adult, and take back what the Darcrow had stolen from them. It happened exactly so. With careful planning and execution, on February 22nd, a son was born to the Siridon family without anyone’s knowledge but the parents, and their faithful servant Calian, who had sworn to keep the child’s existence a secret he would carry to the grave. They named the boy Ilias. He was born right when the riots in the city were starting to rise up, and so Fyrus lost no time. He asked Roanne for Aria’s Ring, the owner of which is the rightful heir to the Siridon leader position. Fyrus knew that Arthur would come for that ring sooner or later, so he decided it was for the best to keep it with Ilias, so that upon his return he would have proof of his lineage. Calian offered to take the child away so that Fyrus could stay to protect his wife, but he declined. Whether it was because as a father, he found it too hard to part ways with his child quite yet, or for some other reason is unknown, but in either case he believed wholeheartedly that Calian could protect and take care of Roanne until his return. Fyrus took the ring and his son, and left for Veralys, a small village quite far away from Darcidon. He rode day and night on horseback, only ever stopping to feed the child, and in three days he had reached Veralys. There, he knew of a blacksmith couple who had provided him with excellent weapons over the years, and they had a great relation. The blacksmiths, Wendor and Reina Crosten, were shocked to hear of this request, but gladly agreed to take care of the child. With that, Fyrus rushed back to Darcidon, but found he was too late. In the few days he had been gone, Calian been caught and abducted, leaving Roanne a free target, still recovering from the childbirth. When Fyrus returned she had already been killed, and most of the Siridon citizens had either died or fled the city. He went up to the Darcrow residence and yelled out for Arthur. When he came out with his weapon in hand, Fyrus told him that he would never take the city for himself, and that the Siridon family was far from extinct. With that, he took hold of his own blade and took his own life, not willing to give Arthur the satisfaction.

The flames of destruction

Ilias Siridon, now named Ilias Crosten as to not betray his origins, lived out most of his childhood in the town of Veralys. His father, who did most of the smithing work, taught him many things about weapons and how to use them. His mother Reina, who was a lover of nature, often took Ilias out into the nearby forest and taught him much about plants and animals. Neither parent was particularly intelligent or well-read, but they had acquired a lot of knowledge just from life experience. One thing they made very clear to Ilias: the ring, that he now wore on his (dominant) right hand, was incredibly important and valuable. No matter what happens, he should never lose it, sell it, break it, or otherwise destroy it. Ilias was never told what exactly was so important about the ring, but he kept it close to him nonetheless.

For fourteen years he lived a peaceful life in the village. His future would be a simple but satisfactory blacksmith’s career in Veralys, and Ilias was content with that. That was until one day, when Ilias woke up from his sleep, all he saw around him was fire. The door, his closet, even his bed had started to catch on fire. As he jumped up and peered out the window, he saw that his house was not the only one: the entire village seemed to be absorbed in flames. He yelled out to his parents, but heard no response. He wanted to run out, but the doorway was so engulfed in flames itself it would be impossible to cross. With no other option, he broke the glass and jumped out the window. Only now did he fully grasp the severity of the situation. The only thing he could feel was the intense burning heat that came from every direction as he watched houses slowly break down and collapse. Over the sound of the roaring flames he could vaguely hear the screams of people who were presumably stuck inside their houses, burning alive. Some houses were still standing, while others had already completely burned down to the ground, with no sign of life from the people who lived there. It was an awful horror scene, and Ilias stood in the middle of the road, frozen by what he saw, until a man ran by and picked him up by his waist. He was swung over his shoulder, and was carried to some underground passage, entirely unknown to him, which lead out of the village. Once they were back above the ground, a safe distance away from the fire, he was put down. Now crying, Ilias said his parents were still somewhere in there, and had to be saved. The man shook his head, knowing that it was already too late. Together, they walked all the way to Zalenn, another nearby village. There, the escapees received free lodging from the local inn. Ilias stayed there, hoping that his parents would finally come to pick him up, and let him know there were still alive. But as the days, and eventually weeks went on, nobody came. All the other people who had escaped the fire one by one left, either with friends or family, all having a different place to go to. The innkeeper was understanding of his situation, so he allowed Ilias to stay there for free, but they both knew he couldn’t live there for long. The fire was ruled an unusual attack by a fire-breathing monster, but from the very beginning Ilias doubted that conclusion. The fire was too sudden, too intense, and too large to be the result of just a single rogue monster. From his perspective, this was a calculated attack by someone, and he was determined to find out.

The truth behind the Veralys massacre

Although it was nothing more than a hunch for Ilias, his suspicions were entirely correct: Veralys’ attack was indeed not caused by some rogue monster, but instead an attack carried out by Darcrow forces, being ordered directly by Arthur Darcrow. After Fyrus Siridon had left Darcidon to take Ilias to safety, Darcrow spies had managed to infiltrate the Siridon residence and capture their servant, Calian. They took him away and threw him in prison, where he would remain until further orders. Immediately afterwards, the Darcrow spies left him behind to go back to the residence to kill Roanne. Calian, however, was determined not to be a sitting duck, and immediately started making his escape. Disguising himself as a Darcrow elite, he managed to get out of the prison and make his escape. While undercover in the city, he heard of the death of Roanne, and was overcome with shame. Not able to face Fyrus after he had failed the task he had entrusted him with, Calian fled the city, never to return.

For ten years Calian was able to escape the grasp of the Darcrow forces, who were actively hunting him down. Fyrus’ final words had made Arthur believe there might still be a Siridon alive, and he was determined to find out who that was, and kill him mercilessly. One day, the Darcrow were successful, and Calian was captured once again when he was simply having a drink at a tavern. He was brought back to Darcidon, where he was held and tortured by them to have him tell where this secret Siridon family member was. For four long years Calian endured the painful torture, but he was determined to never betray the family that meant everything to him. But at some point, the never-ending pain and suffering became too much for him, and he revealed that before they died, Roanne and Fyrus had a child, and he was brought to Veralys. Feeling deeply ashamed at having failed his family a second time, he pleaded for the Darcrow to end his life, but they wouldn’t grant him that wish. He was thrown back in jail, where he has remained ever since.

After learning of the Siridon child’s whereabouts, a team of Darcrow spies went out to the village and went to work. Through a carefully calculated strategy, they managed to set fire to the entire city all at once in the middle of the night, turning the entire town to ashes. There was no concern for the hundreds of innocent villagers, it was just to make sure that child would most definitely die. After flawlessly executing their plan, they awaited the aftermath, which was a cruel graveyard of bones and ashes. They quickly created the false rumour that the fire was created by a giant fire-breathing monster that had gone rogue in the village, and was currently still there. As nobody was currently willing to go near the town out of fear for the monster, the Darcrow army had free reign to carefully investigate the remains of Veralys, inspecting every house and every corpse, in search for Aria’s Ring. Arthur knew that if he could obtain that ring, he would officially be the representative of both the Darcrow and the Siridon family, securing his position as the sole leader. However, they were unable to find this ring. This led to a period of slowdown on the Darcrow side. There was confusion about what this meant, and what they were to do now: was the missing ring a sign that there was never a child there to begin with? Had Calian lied to them to protect his family after all? Or had the child really been there, and he had managed to somehow escape in time? Or perhaps the ring was still somewhere in the ruins of Veralys, and they had simply not found it in their searches. A small group of Darcrow soldiers stayed at Veralys, carefully going through all the remains multiple times in an effort to find the ring that was never there. Arthur also kept various Darcrow members across different villages, to make sure that if any news of the child were to surface, he would be the first to know.

Training under Master Sarara

For about a month Ilias stayed at the inn, spending most of his days inside the building, helping out wherever he could. That is when one day, he saw a particularly interesting patron enter the inn. An incredibly muscular female figure, who from every angle just emanated strength and power, sat down for a drink, when Ilias found the strength to go up to her. She was Master Sarara, a highly skilled martial artist who resided in Zalenn. That is when Ilias gained interest in the idea of growing stronger, to go out on his own and find out who was responsible for burning down his village and killing all those innocent people. Sarara agreed, and Ilias became the first student to be taught in the art of the Winged Serpent, a type of fighting that Sarara had developed herself. It involved fighting with a spear, staff or pole-like weapon, and using that weapon to lift yourself from the ground and perform deadly strikes from the air. Like a snake with wings, you could surprise your enemies by suddenly leaping up into the sky, and rushing down to strike your opponent.

Over the next two years, Master Sarara taught Ilias everything she could, from basic martial arts knowledge to how to survive encounters with monsters. Upon his graduation, Ilias received a large tattoo on his left arm, showing a serpent-like creature wrapped around his arm going down, with large wings just under its head. He also received one of Sarara’s finest weapons; a double-pointed spear, useful for both strikes and slashes with either end of the spear. Ilias thanked her immensely for all her teaching, and then left Zalenn, off to explore more of the world, and in the meantime hoping to find some information on the fate of Veralys and the perpetrators behind it all.

Fangs of death

For the next few years, Ilias travelled from place to place, staying at various inns but never staying for long before moving on to the next place. He made a living by taking hunting jobs and requests from whoever was willing to pay a decent amount. This way, he kept his fighting abilities sharp, and no creature was ever a true challenge for him. Although he was brave, he was no fool, and also knew when not to accept a request. There were monsters that were nothing more than an elaborate suicide mission were you to accept them on his own, and Ilias knew his limits. This nomadic mercenary lifestyle kept him busy for years, but nowhere could he find someone who knew anything about Veralys or what could have caused the attack.

Everything went well, until one day while travelling to a small village called Evereen, he felt an unease feeling, as if he was being followed. He couldn’t see anyone behind him, so he went on and headed for Evereen’s town hall, where most of the job listings could usually be found. A friendly guard mentioned to Ilias how this was a peaceful town, and there haven’t been any rogue monsters in the area in a very long time. Unfortunately, there would most likely not be any work for him here in the foreseeable future. Ilias decided to stay at the local inn for a day before moving on to the next town. That morning, when he had just started his breakfast, a woman came running in, wearing the same outfit he had seen the people in the town hall wear. She told him that out of nowhere, a pair of small impish monsters who had seemingly settled in the nearby forest had gone wild and entered the village, stolen some valuable goods and made their escape. They desperately needed someone to take care of it, and one of the guards had told her a trained warrior just so happened to have entered the village last night. Ilias had seemingly come at the perfect time, as the village doesn’t really house any trained fighters due to the peaceful nature of the area. For the entire time she was talking to Ilias, she kept holding his hands, as if she was performing some kind of silent prayer. Ilias hesitated not a moment and immediately gathered all his stuff and headed for the forest, where the creatures were last sighted. He was stealthy as always, aware that those two creatures may have just been a few members of a larger tribe. He would scout out the area and retrieve the stolen items, only killing the creatures if needed.

The forest was quite sizable and dense, allowing for an easy stealthy approach. After some time, the forest opened up into a larger clearing, where Ilias could see some traces of a settlement of sorts: some crudely built huts, a campfire circle, and a few wooden crates. This had to be where the creatures resided, however the area seemed to be deserted at the time. Certain of his easily achieved success, Ilias went into the clearing to see if the goods he was sent to retrieve were located in the crates or the huts. When he came to the middle, he came to the realisation that the entire settlement had been nothing but an illusion: in reality, there was nothing there. Ilias immediately became wary of his surroundings, knowing that he was most likely lured into a trap. That’s when he saw from the corner of his eye a giant Manticore manifesting out of thin air. Where previously he had made absolutely certain that there was absolutely no life other than him present at the clearing, suddenly this massive lion-faced creature stared him right in the eyes. Instantly, Ilias sprinted away from the Manticore. He felt himself run faster than he had ever been able to before, almost at a superhuman speed. But even with this incredible speed, the beast was massive, and needed far less time to catch up with Ilias. Before he was able to escape in the forest, the Manticore had approached the human and struck. With one bite of its massive fangs, the Manticore had gotten a hold of Ilias’ right arm, and ripped it off cleanly. Blinded by a combination of pain and adrenaline, Ilias managed to break free from the Manticore’s grasp, and ran into the densely grown forest, where it was easier for him to hide.

For two days and two nights, Ilias hid in the forest, trying his hardest to stop the bleeding from where his arm used to be, while also staying as quiet as possible to not alert the Manticore again. However, his injuries had worn him down to his end, and slowly he felt himself slip away into an eternal slumber. He closed his eyes, knowing he would never find the answers to the riddles that plagued him. After an impossible to determine amount of time, Ilias felt some strength return to him, and he used it to open his eyes. In front of him, he saw a cloaked figure standing over him, with one hand on the shoulder that was injured. Their touch was warm and pleasant, and Ilias felt how the bleeding had stopped. Slowly, he fell asleep once again, and when he awakened, the cloaked figure was nowhere to be found. However, the giant gaping wound on his torso where his arm had been had now been miraculously cured. Whoever it was who cured him, they saved his life. Frustrated at not being able to properly thank them, but thankful for their actions nonetheless, Ilias got back up on his feet, and made his way back to Evereen. Once there, he realized something that up until now had been far in the back of his mind. The right arm, the one that was now somewhere in the digestive tracks of the monstrous beast of the forest, was the one that carried the ring as well. Aria’s Ring, the object he was always told to keep close to him, was lost, and in his current state there was nothing he could possibly do to get it back. As soon as possible, Ilias headed for the town hall, to search for the woman who had given him the hunting mission. He asked around, but nobody had ever heard of or seen that woman before. He asked around in the village, but nobody seemed to have ever seen the woman, leaving Ilias with more questions than ever before.

Traitor in the Darcrow House

The individual responsible for these strange occurrences has been under the radar for most of the story up until now. Around the same time Ilias was born, Arthur Darcrow had a child as well. His daughter, named Irina Darcrow, was praised by Arthur as the symbol of the next generation of the Darcrow family. Opposite to Ilias’ upbringing, Irina’s childhood was filled with official ceremonies, public appearances, and forced royal customs. Arthur made it his prime objective to only show Irina the best parts of his new empire, and hide all the fighting, the war and the cruelties that went on behind the scenes. For the greater part of her life, he succeeded in doing so. One day, however, she caught wind of a secret area under the Darcrow Mansion, but when she asked her father, he strictly forbid her to ever go there. Being the rebellious teenager she was at that point in her life, that very night she snuck out of her room to check out that part of the mansion. That secret area turned out to be the prison cells, where captured Siridon sympathisers were held and often tortured. Seeing the way her father hid these cruelties from her, she realized the truth of her father’s reign wasn’t as great as he had made it out to be.

After that night, she decided to stop her father from making any more victims, and put an end to his reign of terror. She did this by becoming more involved with his military units, and through their actions find a potential weak spot. Before long, she found out about the existence of Ilias Siridon, the only person who formed a reasonable threat to Arthur, particularly because of the uncertainty around his survival. He was Irina’s key to success, and from that point onward, she closely followed any developments around the hunt for him. At the same time, she started learning spells from the city library, which has a large collection of magical knowledge. After some time, word came out that Ilias may have been spotted making his way to Evereen. She overheard the Darcrows talking about using a Manticore they captured to kill Ilias for sure this time. That is when Irina took action. She went up to her father, and admitted that she knew about the plot to kill the Siridon child. She pretended to share everyone’s hatred for him, and asked if she could help in killing him. Arthur was apprehensive, but when Irina showed him how she had been training her spellcasting abilities for this purpose, Arthur allowed her to join. She was admitted to join the Darcrow’s special force, and together they set up a plan for Ilias’ assassination.

Irina’s role in the plan would be as such: she would go to the village of Evereen, and disguise herself as a member of the town hall. The morning after Ilias’ arrival, she would approach him and ask for his help with a monster in the forest. After this, she would immediately head for the forest, where the others had already placed the Manticore. There, she would cast a spell on the beast to make it turn invisible until it became aggravated, at which point the spell would wear off. Next, she created the illusion of a small camp in the centre of the forest clearing, and the trap would be set. The others would leave, and only Irina would stay behind to see how everything went down. In the near-impossible scenario Ilias would be able to kill the Manticore, he would at least be hurt to a point where Irina could finish it herself. After all this, all Irina had to do was retrieve a ring from Ilias’ corpse. Arthur never explained why this ring was so important, but it was made clear to her that obtaining that ring was the most important part of the mission.

Irina did exactly as she was ordered, however she changed one small detail: when she had disguised herself and came to Ilias to tell him about the beast in the forest, she intentionally grabbed his hands, and cast a spell on him. This spell would double his speed, giving him a reasonable chance of escaping the Manticore. This was the only thing she could do to aid him without giving herself away. With that done, she went into hiding in the forest, and waited for everything to unfold. She had anticipated Ilias to get away from the Manticore without injuries, so it came as a shock when she saw the attack happen, and Ilias’ arm being torn off his body entirely. After his escape, Irina put the beast back to sleep, and started searching for Ilias. She made sure to make herself appear unrecognizable, and when she found him, she cured his wounds so he would be able to survive. There, she noticed that Ilias did not carry the ring on him, upon which she went back and started searching for the torn off arm. She eventually found it, and kept the ring for herself, hiding it away so that nobody would be able to find it. With that, she returned to her father, and told her the news: the Siridon child had fallen for the trap successfully, and was devoured by the Manticore. The beast had consumed most of him, except for his right arm, which she took with her to provide evidence of his death. She also reported that she looked for the ring, but wasn’t able to find anything, despite her using a magic detecting spell to find anything that emitted any form of magic. Arthur put all other forces with tasks related to the Siridon child to a low priority, and considered it a victory for the time being. 

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Characters and locations  
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Ilias Crosten / Ilias Siridon - The player character  
Calem Darcrow - The original leader of the Darcrow family in Darcidon  
Aria Siridon - The original leader of the Siridon family in Darcidon  
The City of Darcidon - City ruled by the two families: Darcrow and Siridon. Currently ruled with an iron fist by Arthur Darcrow  
Arthur Darcrow - The current leader of the Darcrow family, seized control of the entire city and killed the Siridons  
Roanne Siridon - The latest leader of the Siridon family, mother of Ilias and killed by Arthur Darcrow  
Fyrus Siridon - Roanne’s husband, father of Ilias, died as a result of Arthur’s violence  
Calian - Loyal servant of the Siridon family  
Wendor Crosten - Ilias’ foster father, blacksmith in Veralys  
Reina Crosten - Ilias’ foster mother, Wendor’s wife  
The Town of Veralys - Small village where Ilias grew up for most of his childhood, was burned to the ground by Darcrow forces  
Master Sarara - Martial artist, inventor of the Art of the Winged Serpent, Ilias’ master  
The Town of Zalenn - Small village not far from Veralys, hometown of Master Sarara, where Ilias lived for some years  
Irina Darcrow - Arthur Darcrow’s daughter, betrayed his trust by turning against him and faking the death of Ilias  
Evereen Village - Small settlement connected to a large forest


End file.
